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Book. 



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Parks £f Memorials 



of the 



STATE OF ILLINOIS 



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Under the Supervision of 

The Department of Public Works and Buildings 

Hon. Frank O. Lowden, Governor 
Frank I. Bennett, Director 
Thomas G. Vennum, Asst. Director 
Frank D. Lowman, Supt. of Parks 

Compiled by 
C. M. SERVICE 



[Printed by authority of the State of Illinois.] 



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Schnepp & Barnes, Printers 

Springfield, III. 

1920. 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

National and State Parks 7 

Fort Chartres 9 

Fort Massac 12 

Lincoln Monument 14 

Old Salem Park 24 

Vandalia Court House 27 

Douglas Monument Park 28 

Lincoln Homestead 30 

Starved Rock Park 32 

Starved Rock Park, History 32 

Starved Rock Park. Geologic History 44 

Starved Rock Park, Geological Formations 45 

Starved Rock Park, Bird Life 48 

Starved Rock Park, Points of Interest 50 



National and State Parks 

FOR some years there has been a notable movement on the part 
of the National Government and many of the States to ac- 
quire, for the benefit of the people, areas of land which are 
noted for beauty of scenery or historic interest. Four million acres, 
in thirteen different localities, have now been set aside by the Na- 
tional Government for park purposes. 

But the people in a number of states have been more directly 
benefited through the establishment of state parks. Among the 
states which have been conspicuous in their legislation for this pur- 
pose are New York, California, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Michi- 
gan, Ohio and Illinois. 

Illinois is developing a comprehensive system of State parks. 
The movement had its feeble beginning within the last decade but 
the Administrative Code originated by Governor Lowden furnished 
the impetus that has accomplished important results. Until two 
years ago the parks owned by the state were administered by a 
commission which scattered its efforts. In 1917 the Administrative 
Code placed the supervision of parks in the hands of the Depart- 
ment of Public Works and Buildings which began immediately to 
map out a progressive program. 

The Illinois plan has as its end the improvement or reclama- 
tion of every important spot in the state that is hallowed by his- 
toric memories. Many such places have already been taken over by 
the State and no effort is being spared to preserve them in their 
original grandeur. The newest accessions in park properties is 
Old Salem, the early home of Abraham Lincoln, located on the 
Sangamon River, near Petersburg and Vandalia Court House, the 
first capitol after the admission of Illinois to the Union. Agitation 
is on foot for the purchase of Campbell's Island, six miles east of 
Moline ; the White Pine forest in Ogle county and Cahokia Mounds, 
a short distance from East St. Louis. Total appropriations of the 
Fifty-first General Assembly for improvements and maintenance of 
State Parks exceed $100,000.00. Of this sum $1,500.00 is to be spent 
for a marker to fix the location of Fort Creve Coeur near Peoria. It 
was at that point where LaSalle and Tonti established a temporary 
fortress. 

The historic spots and parks now under the supervision of the 
Department of Public Works and Buildings are : Lincoln Monu- 
ment, Lincoln Homestead, Vandalia Court House, Douglas Monu- 
ment, Fort Massac, Fort Chartres, Old Salem Park and Starved 
Rock Park. 

Illinois parks are surpassed by those of no other state and the 
program mapped out gives promise of greater developments. The 
State Park movement is well started and the conservation of nat- 
ural beauty spots and sites of historic interest is appealing strongly 
to the lover of nature and the patriotic people of Illinois. 



FORT CHARTRES. 

FORT CHARTRES is located in Randolph County, about 
three miles north of the village of Prairie du Roches. 

Early Illinois history centers about Fort Chartres, the hub of 
French influence in the central west for almost half a century be- 
fore it was wrested from them in 1865 by the British. The first fort, 
constructed in an alluvial bottom, three-fourths of a mile from the 
Mississippi River, in the northwest corner of Randolph County, was 
built of wood with a stockade of timber. The second fort, con- 
structed of limestone quarried from the river bluffs, was located a 
mile above the old fort and half a mile from the river. 

Fort de Chartres, named for the Duke de Chartres, son of the 
regent of France, was built to give protection to the Company of 
the West or Mississippi Company, organized in 1717 and holding 
sway for fourteen years. A village grew up rapidly between the 
fort and the river and Jesuit missionaries established the church of 
St. Anne. Later Phillippe Francis de Renault, director general of 
mining operations of the Company of the West, brought over two 
hundred French miners and five hundred Guinea slaves, introducing 
negro slavery into what was later Illinois, although Indian slavery 
was not uncommon. 

In 1831 the India Company, successors to the Company of the 
West, retroceded possession to the crown and Louis XV proclaimed 
jurisdiction. Louisiana was separated from Canada and Illinois 
was organized as a dependency commanded by Captain Pierre 
D'Artagnette, later burned to death by the Indians. 

War was declared between France and England- in 1744 and the 
colonies became embroiled. It.w^s. in, 1765;that :-'.i;he French Fleur de 
Lis was drawn down qnd the, & 3d Gtos*s of St: George unfurled. 

In 1772 a freshej\w^she*d v *away the basti,on of the fort and the 
garrisons deserted it, going to Kaska^kia/ ,wh*icV/ in later years fell be- 
fore George Rogers Clark and his» ya\lianl*-rhe"n.* After 1772 the fort 
never was occupied except by Ih'dians. 

In 1778 Congress reserved from entry or sale a tract of land a 
mile square, including Fort Chartres and its buildings. 

The following account of the fort was given by — Pitman, 

an English traveler who visited it during the year 1765. 

"The fort is an irregular quadrangle; the sides of the exterior polygon 
are four hundred and ninety feet. It is built of stone and plastered over, 
and is only designed as a defense against the Indians, the walls being two 
feet two inches thick and pierced with loop holes at regular distances, 
and with two port-holes for cannon in the faces, and two in the flanks of 
each bastion; the ditch has never been finished; the entrance to the fort 
is through a very handsome rustic gate; within the wall is a small banquette 
raised three feet for the men to stand on when they fire through the loop 
holes. The buildings within the fort are the commandant's and commissary's 
houses, the magazine of stores, corps de garde and two barracks; these 
occupy the square. Within the gorges of the bastions are a powder maga- 
zine, a bake house, a prison, in the lower floor of which are four dungeons, 
and in the upper, two rooms, and an out house belonging to the commandant. 
The commandant's house is thirty-two yards long and ten broad; it con- 



10 

tains a kitchen, a dining room, a bed chamber, one small room, five closets 
for servants and a cellar. The commissary's house (now occupied by 
officers) is built in the same line as this, its proportions and distribution 
or apartments are the same. Opposite these are the storehouse and guard- 
house, they are each thirty yards long and eight broad; the former consists 
of two large store rooms (under which is a large vaulted cellar) and a 
large room, a bed chamber, and a closet for the store-keeper; the latter, of 
the soldiers and officers guardrooms, a chapel, a bed chamber and closet for 
the chaplain and an artillery store-room. The lines of barracks have 
never been finished; they at present consist of two rooms each for officers, 
and three rooms for soldiers; they are good, spacious rooms of twenty-two 
feet square and have betwixt them a small passage. There are fine spacious 
lofts over each building which reach from end to end; these are made use 
of to lodge regimental stores, working and entrenching tools, etc. The 
bank of the Mississippi, next the fort is continually falling in, being worn 
away by the current, which has been turned from its course by a sand bank 
now increased to a considerable island covered with willows; many experi- 
ments have been made to stop this growing evil but to no purpose. When 
the fort was begun in the year 1756, it was a good half mile from the water's 
side; in the year 1766 it was but eighty paces; eight years ago the river 
was fordable to the island; the channel is now forty feet deep. In the year 
1764 there were about forty famlies in the village near the fort and a parish 
church served by a Franciscan friar dedicated to St. Anne. In the follow- 
ing year, when the English took possession of the country, they abandoned 
their houses except three or four poor families, and settled at the villages 
on the west side of the Mississippi, choosing to continue under the French 
government." 

Plans are now under way by the Department of Public Works and 
Buildings to restore the old fortress from the native rock which is 
available in large quantities in the near vicinity. Crumbling walls of 
the second fort still remain and the ancient powder magazine remains 
almost intact. 'Reports mention the fort as the best constructed forti- 
fication in America. ; ' H/he* 'masonry. \vas so well done that the original 
walls are now ea'sily traceable. J3efailpd«'n7fo^ma{ion as to its construc- 
tion was obtained from a variety of "e3rty-.riejTHfiiscences and descrip- 
tions and from the files of the/ French Government. When this re- 
storation has been accomplished,* it .vrillbe possible for the visitors to 
see the ancient fortification as it existed two hundred years ago. 



11 




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la 

FORT MASSAC. 

FORT MASSAC is located in Massac county, on the Ohio river, 
near the present city of Metropolis. 
It is historically significant. It offered the opening wedge 
by which George Rogers Clark entered and conquered from the British 
the expansive northwest territory composing the present states of Illi- 
nois, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin and parts of Michigan and Minnesota. 

This intrepid explorer navigated down the Ohio to Fort Massac, 
captured the garrison and then proceeded overland one hundred and 
twenty miles with a handful of hardy woodsmen soldiers from Vir- 
ginia to Kaskaskia and Vincennes, wresting from the English those 
posts and hoisted the American flag, marking the end of foreign 
dominance. 

Historical accounts have it that the site was first visited by De 
Soto, in the year 1542 when it was used as a temporary fortress 
against the Indians. Aaron Burr also stopped at this point in 1805, 
while en route to the south to establish an empire which was to have 
absorbed the American Republic, with Burr at its head. 

The fort itself was built by Captain Charles Phillips Aubrey, sent 
into the Illinois country in 1756 from New Orleans, to care for 
French interests agianst encroachments of the British. Leaving Fort 
Chartres on May 10, 1757, Aubrey reached Massac the same year and 
drove the first stake on Ascension Day: hence the stronghold first bore 
the name Fort Ascension. The fort was captured in 1765 by the 
English, who held it thirteen years until its fall before George Rogers 
Clark. In 1794, the old block house and palisades were rebuilt by order 
of President George Washington as a protection for American settlers 
who began pushing westward in great numbers. 

The origin of the name, Fort Massac, has not been determined. 
A legend recounts a massacre by Indians during French occupancy and 
the taking of the name Fort Massacre, which was later abbreviated to 
Fort Massac. The Indians, so the story reads, appeared on what is 
now the Kentucky side of the river, garbed in bear skins and crawling 
on their hands and knees. Soldiers of the garrison quickly crossed the 
river to make a killing. In their absence, a party of Indians fell upon 
the unprotected settlement, murdering every inhabitant and setting fire 
to the buildings. 

Until its purchase by the State in 1903, through the instrumentality 
of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the site of Fort Massac 
bore few marks of its former importance. Only ruins of earthworks 
were there to show the shape of the blockhouses. The State has done 
everything possible to preserve the historic spot without marring its 
native beauty and without destroying the reminders of the past. The 
park has been landscape-gardened, with roads and walks carefully laid 
out, and a custodian's cottage and recreation hall for the use of visitors 
have been built. To Clark and his brave men there has been erected a 
monument. From the top of Fort Massac, recognized as a natural 
fortress, smoke from the city of Paducah can be seen. 



13 




14 

LINCOLN MONUMENT. 

LINCOLN MONUMENT and Lincoln Memorial Hall are lo- 
cated in Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois. This shrine 
is visited annually by thousands of persons of this and other 
countries. 

THE MONUMENT. 

The body of Abraham Lincoln was deposited in the receiving vault 
at Oak Ridge Cemetery May 4, 1865. 

Upon the 11th of May, 1865, the National Lincoln Monument 
Association was formed, its object being to construct a monument to 
the memory of Abraham Lincoln in the City of Springfield, Illinois. 

The names of the gentlemen comprising the Lincoln Monument 
Association in 1865 (now deceased) were as follows: 

Gov. Richard Oglesby, Sharon Tyndali:, 

Orlin H. Miner, Thomas J. Dennis, 

John T. Stuart, Newton Bateman, 

Jesse K. DuBois, S. H. Treat, 

James C. Conkling, O. M. Hatch, 

John Williams, S. H. Melvin, 

Jacob Bunn, James H. Beveridge. 

David L. Phillips. 

The temporary vault was built and the body of President Lincoln 
removed from the receiving vault of the cemetery on December 21, 
1865. The body was placed in the crypt of the monument September 
19, 1871, and was placed in the sarcophagus in the center of the cata- 
comb October 9, 1874. 

Owing to the instability of the earth under its foundation and its 
unequal settling the structure had begun to show signs of disintegra- 
tion, necessitating taking it down and rebuilding it from the foundation. 
The work was begun by Col. J. S. Culver in November, 1899, and fin- 
ished June 1, 1901. A cemented vault was made beneath the floor of 
the catacomb directly underneath the sarcophagus and in this vault the 
body of President Lincoln was placed September 26, 1901, where it 
will probably remain undisturbed for ever. 

The monument is built of brick and Quincy granite, the latter 
material only appearing in view. It consists of a square base 72^2 
feet on each side and 15 feet, 10 inches high. At the north side of 
the base is a semi-circular projection, the interior of which has a 
radius of 12 feet. It is the vestibule of the catacomb, and gives 
access to view the crypts in which are placed the bodies of Mr. 
Lincoln's wife and sons and his grandson, Abraham Lincoln, son 
of Hon. Robert T. Lincoln. On the south side of the base is an- 
other semi-circular projection of the same size, but this is con- 
tinued into the base so as to produce a room of elliptical shape, 
which is called Memorial Hall. Thus the base measures, including 
these two projections, 119^ feet from north to south and 721/4 



15 



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LINCOLN MONUMENT. 



16 

feet from east to west. In the angles formed by the addition of 
these two projections are handsome flights of stone steps, two on 
each end. These steps are projected by granite balustrades, which 
extend completely around the top of the base, which forms a ter- 
race. From the plane of this terrace rises the obelisk, or die, which 
is 28 feet 4 inches high from the ground, and tapered to 11 feet 
square at the top. At the angles of this die are four pedestals of 11 
feet diameter, rising 12^ feet above the plane of the terrace. This 
obelisk, including the area occupied by the pedestals, is 41 feet 
square, while from the obelisk rises the shaft, tapering to 8 feet 
square at the summit. Upon the four pedestals stand the four 
bronze groups, representing the four arms of the service — Infantry, 
Cavalry, Artillery and Navy. Passing around the whole obelisk and 
pedestal is a band or chain of shields, each representing a state, the 
name of which is carved upon it. At the south side of the obelisk 
is a square pedestal, 7 feet high, supporting the statue of Lincoln, 
the pedestal being ornamented with the coat of arms of the United 
States. This coat of arms, in the position it occupies on the monu- 
ment, is intended to typify the Constitution of the United States. 
Mr. Lincoln's statue on the pedestal above it makes the whole an 
illustration of his position at the outbreak of the. rebellion. He 
took his stand on the Constitution as his authority for using the 
four arms of the war power of the Government — the Infantry, 
Cavalry, Artillery and Navy — to hold together the states which are 
represented still lower on the monument by a cordon of tablets link- 
ing them together in a perpetual bond of union. 

The money used in the original construction of this handsome 
monument came from the people by voluntary contributions. The 
first entry made by the treasurer of the association was May 8, 
1865, and was from Isaac Reed, of New York, $100. Then came 
contributions from Sunday schools, lodges, Army associations, indi- 
viduals and states. The Seventy-third Regiment, United States 
colored troops, at New Orleans, contributed $1,437, a greater 
amount than was given by any other individual or organization 
except the State of Illinois. Many pages of the record are filled 
with the contributions from the Sunday schools of the land. Of 
the 5,145 entries, 1,697 are from Sunday schools. The largest part 
of the money was contributed in 1865, but it continued to come to 
the treasurer from all parts of the country until 1871. About $8,000 
was contributed by the colored soldiers of the United States Army. 
Only three states made appropriations for this fund — Illinois, 
$50,000; Missouri, $1,000, and Nevada, $500. 

The monument was dedicated October 15, 1874, the occasion 
being signalized by a tremendous outpouring of the people. The 
oration commemorative of the life and public services of the great 
emancipator was delivered by Governor Richard J. Oglesby. Pres- 
ident Grant also spoke briefly on that occasion, and a poem was 
read by James Judson Lord. 

The monument was built after the accepted designs of Larkin 
G. Mead, of Florence, Italy, and stands upon an eminence in Oak 



17 

Ridge Cemetery, occupying about nine acres of ground. Ground 
was broken on the site September 10, 1869, in the presence of 3,000 
persons. The capstone was placed in position on May 22, 1871. 

In July, 1871, citizens of Chicago, through Hon. J. Young 
Scammon, contributed $13,700 to pay for the Infantry group of 
statuary. In the city of New York, under the leadership of Gov. 
E. D. Morgan, 137 gentlemen subscribed and paid $100 each, 
amounting to $13,700 for the Naval group. 

Of the four groups of statuary, the Naval group was the first 
completed. This group represents a scene on the deck of a gunboat. 
The mortar is poised ready for action ; the gunner has rolled up 
a shell ready for firing ; the boy, or powder monkey, climbs to the 
highest point and is peering into the distance ; the officer in com- 
mand is about to examine the situation through the telescope. 

The Infantry group was the next to reach Springfield. Both 
these groups were placed in position on the monument in Septem- 
ber, 1877. The Infantry group represents an officer, a private 
soldier and a drummer, with arms and accoutrements, marching 
in expectation of battle. The officer in command raises the flag 
with one hand ; pointing to the enemy with the other, orders a 
charge. The private with the musket, as the representative of the 
whole line, is in the act of executing the charge. The drummer 
boy has become excited, lost his cap, throwm away his haversack 
and drawn a revolver to take part in the conflict. 

The Artillery group represents a piece of artillery in battle. 
The enemy has succeeded in directing a shot so well as to dismount 
the gun. The officer in command mounts his disabled piece and 
with drawn saber fronts the enemy. The youthful soldier, with 
uplifted hands, is horrified at the havoc around him. The wounded 
and prostrate soldier wears a look of intense agony. 

The Cavalry group, consisting of two human figures and a 
horse, represents a battle scene. The horse, from whose back the 
rider has just been thrown, is frantically rearing. The wounded 
and dying trumpeter, supported by a comrade, is bravely facing 
death. Each of these groups cost $13,700. 

The statue of Mr. Lincoln stands on a pedstal projecting from the 
south side of the obelisk. This is the central figure in the group, or 
series of groups. As we gaze upon this heroic figure the mute lips 
seem again to speak in the memorable words that are now immortal. 
We hear again the ringing sentences spoken in 1859 of the slave 
power : 

Broken by it, I too, may be; bow to it, I never will. * * * If ever I 
feel the soul within me elevate and expand to those dimensions not wholly 
unworthy of its Almighty Architect, it is when I contemplate the cause of 
my country deserted by all the world beside, and I, standing up boldly and 
alone, hurling defiance at her victorious oppressors. Here, without contem- 
plating consequences, before high Heaven and in the face of the world, I 
swear eternal fidelity to the just cause, as I deem it, of the land of my life, 
my liberty and my love. 



18 

From the day of its dedication, October 15, 1874, until July 9, 
1895, the Lincoln Monument remained in the control of the National 
Lincoln Monument Association. 

In 1874, after its dedication, John Carroll Power was made cus- 
todian, and continued in that position until his death in January, 1894. 
A sketch of the Lincoln Monument could not, in fairness, be written 
without paying a tribute to his faithfulness, zeal and love. He revered 
the nation's hero and gave to his last resting place the tenderest and 
most assiduous care. Much that is of interest in the history of this 
first decade of the existence of the monument has been written by his 
untiring pen that would otherwise have been lost. 

After the attempt was made to steal the body of President Lin- 
coln, Mr. Power summoned to his aid, in 1880, eight gentlemen, 
residents of Springfield, who organized as the "Lincoln Guard of 
Honor." They were J. Carroll Power, deceased ; Jasper N. Reece, de- 
ceased ; Gustavus S. Dana, deceased ; James F. McNeill ; Joseph P. 
Lindley ; Edward S. Johnson; Horace Chapin, deceased; Noble B. 
Wiggins, deceased, and Clinton L. Conkling. Their object was to 
guard the precious dust of Abraham Lincoln from vandal hands and 
to conduct, upon the anniversaries of his birth and death, suitable 
memorial exercises. 

During these years an admittance fee of twenty-five cents was 
required of all visitors to the monument, and this small fee consti- 
tuted a fund by which the custodian was paid and the necessary ex- 
penses of the care of the grounds defrayed. 

In the winter of 1894, in response to a demand voiced almost 
universally by the press and the people of Illinois, the General Assem- 
bly made provision for the transfer of the National Lincoln Monu- 
ment and grounds to the permanent care and custody of the State. 
The new law put the monument into the charge of a board of control, 
consisting of the Governor of the State, the State Superintendent of 
Public Instruction and the State Treasurer. 

July 9, 1895, Hon. Richard J. Oglesby, the President, the only 
surviving member of the original Lincoln Monument Association, 
turned over to the State, as represented by its chief executive, Gov- 
ernor Altgeld, the deeds and papers relating to the monument and 
grounds. The governor received the trust on behalf of the State, 
pledging its faithfulness to the duty of guarding and caring for the 
last resting place of the illustrious dead. The commission appointed 
as custodian Edward S. Johnson, major of the veteran Seventh Illinois 
Infantry and a member of the Lincoln Guard of Honor. The ad- 
mittance fee is a thing of the past and "To the Mecca of the people let 
all the people come, bringing garlands of flowers, carrying away les- 
sons of life. There is no shrine more worthy of a devotee, no academy 
of the porch or grove where is taught so simply and so grandly the 
principles of greatness. Strew flowers, but bear away the imprint of 
his life, the flower of manliness and the wreath of honor." 



19 




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MEMORIAL HALL. 



Within Memorial Hall at the south end of the Monument the 
visitor will find a number of interesting articles which were used by 
Mr. Lincoln personally, or which are in some way associated with his 
memory. 

Among these is a block of rough-hewn brown stone bearing an 
inscription in Latin, which was sent to Lincoln after his election for 
the second time as President of the United States, by a group of 
patriotic citizens of Rome. An interesting story is connected with this 
stone. In the early days of Roman history, about five hundred and 
seventy-eight years before the birth of Christ, there ascended to the 
throne of Rome a wise and good king called Servius Tullius. His 
origin is more or less mythological but it is supposed that one or both 
of his parents were slaves. This king ruled with justice and benevo- 
lence and his earnest efforts were directed toward the amelioration of 
the condition of the common people. He deprived the creditor of the 
right to make a slave of his impecunious debtor and even succeeded in 
establishing a constitution which gave these poor wretches political 
independence. 

These acts of the king aroused the jealousy and hatred of the 
nobility and they determined upon his destruction. Tullius had two 
daughters, both married. One called Tullia, of evil memory, killed her 
own husband and espoused Lucius Tarquinius, the husband of her 
gentler sister who had been murdered by this same Tarquinius. Tar- 
quinius and Tullia at the head of the mob seized the throne of Tullius, 
and that unfortunate monarch while walking unsuspectingly through 
the streets of his city, was struck down and assassinated by a follower 
of his wicked son-in-law. His body was left in the street where it 
fell and his infamous daughter Tullia drove her chariot over it in 
triumph. 

One of the earliest acts of Servius Tullius had been to add to his 
capital three of the neighboring hills, thus making Rome the City of 
Seven Hills. Around the boundary of the new city he built a wall of 
stone which encircled Rome for seven hundred years and was always 
known as the wall of Servius Tullius. 

During the centuries of oppression and tyranny which make up 
the history of Rome, there has always existed a small minority who 
have loved liberty and justice, and these few kept alive from generation 
to generation the memory of Servius Tullius. Looking on from afar 
at the four years' struggle in the United States, in which freedom for 
the down-trodden was eventually gained, the patriots of Rome saw in 
President Lincoln, whose great heart and steadfast courage had liber- 
ated four million slaves, an embodiment of their ideal of the ancient 
king whose memory they so lovingly cherished. Therefore, after his 
second election as President, they took from the Wall of Servius 
Tullius, where it had reposed for more than two thousand years, a 
fragment of stone. On it they engraved in Latin an inscription which, 
translated, reads : 



21 

"TO ABRAHAM LINCOLN, PRESIDENT FOR THE SECOND 
TIME OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC, CITIZENS OF ROME 
PRESENT THIS STONE, FROM THE WALL OF SERVIUS TUL- 
LIUS, BY WHICH THE MEMORY OF EACH OF THESE ASSERT- 
ORS OF LIBERTY MAY BE ASSOCIATED. 1865." 

This stone they sent to President Lincoln. In all probability it 
reached him before his death and with his characteristic modesty he 
forebore to mention it. It was eventually discovered in the basement 
of the White House. By an act of Congress, 1870, introduced by 
Senator Shelby M. Cullom, of Illinois, the stone was transferred to 
Springfield to be placed in the National Lincoln Monument then in 
process of erection. 

The stone is of conglomerate sandstone pronounced by a geol- 
ogist of Illinois to be in all probability artificial. It is 27^ inches long, 
19 inches wide and 8^4 inches thick. The upper edge and ends are 
rough as though broken by a hammer ; the lower edge and the side 
which bears the inscription are dressed true. The stone has no in- 
trinsic beauty, but because of its associations, it will always be an 
object of interest to all lovers of liberty. 

Many things used by Lincoln in his lifetime are preserved in 
Memorial Hall. Here are his surveying instruments, the compass, 
chain and Jacob staff and the worn old black leather saddlebags in 
which he carried implements and papers when as a young man, he 
went surveying in Sangamon County. There is a soap dish which 
was in his bedroom and curtain fixtures, tassel and cord from his 
Springfield home. There are two small black cane-seated chairs 
which are of his first set of parlor furniture ; a big ink-stained deal 
table and a plain wooden rocker both of which were in his law office 
in Springfield at the time he was elected President. 

In a glass frame is a faded piece of white silk with a pattern of 
red flowers. Deeper than the red of the flowers are dark stains of 
blood. This bit of silk is from the gown of the actress, Miss Laura 
Keene, who acted the leading role in "Our American Cousin" at 
Ford's Theater in Washington, on the night of Lincoln's assassina- 
tion. When the murderer's shot rang out and the audience sat 
stunned and horror stricken, Miss Keene stepped from the stage 
into the President's box and took his wounded head upon her knees. 
She herself, one year later brought the piece of blood-stained silk to 
Springfield and presented it to the National Lincoln Monument. 

Among the number of Lincoln's personal letters which may be 
seen at the Monument, is a copy of one of his own hand, written to 
a little girl in Westchester County, New York, which shows his 
never failing courtesy and kindness. This little girl of thirteen, 
Miss Grace Bedell, wrote to Mr. Lincoln during his first campaign 
for President, telling him she thought he would look better if he 
would wear whiskers. In the midst of all the turmoil and excite- 
ment of the political battle he had time to stop and write a per- 
sonal reply to a child. In all seriousness he told her that as he had 



22 

never worn whiskers, he feared it might be considered a piece of 
"silly affectation" if he were to begin to cultivate them. Not long 
afterwards, however, he did raise the beard which he wore until his 
death. He never forgot his little friend and on a later occasion 
when he made a hurried trip through the town delivering campaign 
speeches, he called for the child and taking her hand, he talked with 
her and told her that she might observe, he had decided to follow 
her advice. 

There are many photographs of scenes made forever dear to the 
American people because of their association with the life of Lin- 
coln ; his birthplace in Kentucky ; the cabin in which his parents 
were married; the little home in Indiana where his mother died; 
the wooden shack in which he kept post office and store in New 
Salem, Sangamon County, Illinois : the old Rutledge mill where he 
probably met his first love, Ann Rutledge; his law office in Spring- 
field ; the fine old home in which he married Mrs. Lincoln ; the 
tavern where they spent their honeymoon and many other photo- 
graphs. 

An almost life-size portrait of Lincoln was presented to the 
Monument by Thomas J. Lincoln, a cousin of the President. This 
picture was painted by Dr. E. E. Fuller, of Keokuk, Iowa, and was 
awarded as a prize to the Fountain Green Wide Awakes, a political 
organization which took active part in the campaign of 1860. The 
Wide Awakes carried the picture in their parades and kept it until 
after Mr. Lincoln's second inauguration as President. They then 
presented it to Thomas J. Lincoln, of Fountain Green, who fulfilled 
a long cherished desire when, on his eighty-third birthday he car- 
ried it himself to Lincoln's tomb in 1906. 

In Memorial Hall may be seen an immense volume containing 
930 quarto pages. It is made up of copies of the notes and resolu- 
tions of sympathy which flooded the White House after the assassi- 
nation of Lincoln. By a joint resolution of both Houses of Con- 
gress, this volume was published in 1867, in order to preserve these 
expressions of sympathy which were sent from all parts of the 
world, written in not less than twenty-five languages. Legislative 
bodies, corporations, voluntary societies, public assembles called 
together for the occasion and private individuals, one and all ex- 
pressed their horror at the crime and their warm sympathy with 
the bereaved family of the President and the American people. A 
number of the original documents sent to Mrs. Lincoln and the 
United States Government, after Lincoln's death, were forwarded 
by Robert T. Lincoln, son of the President, to John T. Stuart, of 
Springfield, in 1871, and these now hang framed on the walls of 
Memorial Hall. Most of them are on heavy vellum or parchment 
and are beautifully embossed. 



23 




OLD SALEM STATE PARK. 
1 — View of the Sangamon from Old Salem Hill ; 2 — The restored Rutledge 
Inn : 3 — Restored road leading up to Old Salem Hill. 



24- 
OLD SALEM PARK. 

THE newest accession in park properties is Old Salem, the 
former home of Abraham Lincoln, located on the Sangamon 
River, near Petersburg. 

A campaign to create interest in making Old Salem a State 
park was undertaken by the Old Salem Lincoln League and the 
cooperation of prominent persons all over the world was enlisted. 
Governor Frank O. Lowden, David Lloyd George, premier of Eng- 
land, and President Woodrow Wilson were among those who sub- 
scribed toward the initial work and are charter members of the 
League. Through the instrumentality of the Old Salem Lincoln 
League, the title to the tract of some sixty acres was made over to 
the State by William Randolph Hearst free of cost in the year 1919. 

Abraham Lincoln reached New Salem in 1831 after becoming 
acquainted with many of the citizens of the village as the result of 
a barge trip down the Sangamon River. The scow on which he was 
traveling with a cargo of merchandise stuck on the Old Salem dam 
and forced a delay. It is said, that on this occasion, Lincoln saw 
for the first time Ann Rutledge, daughter of the tavern keeper, with 
whom he fell in love. 

It was at Old Salem that Lincoln kept store, practiced sur- 
veying, gained fame for whipping the Clary gang, was made a cap- 
tain in the Black Hawk War, studied law and was elected to the 
Legislature, then sitting at Vandalia. 

The historic village was founded on an eminence three years 
before Lincoln's advent by John M. Cameron and James Rutledge. 
It was here that the name "Honst Abe" is said to. have attached it- 
self to Lincoln because of his scrupulous honesty in dealing with 
customers while keeping store. It is related that once when he had 
made incorrect change, he walked three miles after quitting time 
to make reparation. Old Salem was at the height of its prosperity 
when Lincoln arrived and its decline set in soon after his departure 
seven years later. 

Research work of the Old Salem Lincoln League brought to 
view the depressions made along the forgotten streets by the 
foundations of the then existing buildings, which it is the intention 
of the Department of Public Works and Buildings to restore. A 
beginning on this program was made, before the State obtained 
title, by the League members who spent days of personal service 
with pick, shovel and hammer. In addition to the foundations, the 
discoveries include the almost obliterated road leading out of the 
village to Springfield and the path from Offut's store, where Lin- 
coln clerked, down to the grist mill where he was wont to officiate. 

Among the buildings already restored or to be restored are : 
Rutledge Inn, where Linoln boarded and courted Ann Rutledge; 
Berry and Lincoln store ; Hill and McNamara store ; Herndon's 
store ; Offut's store ; Martin Waddell's hat making establishment ; 
Minta Graham school; Bale's carding machine house; Joshua Mil- 



25 

ler's blackshmith shop ; Onstott's cooper shop, the residence of Dr. 
Allen and a number of others whose owners have been identified. 

Plans for a custodian's cottage and relic house have just been 
completed and work on these will shortly be started. These build- 
ings will be constructed in harmony with the types of those days. 
The relic house will be of fire proof construction and will house the 
relics, mementos, etc., of Lincoln and Old Salem, a great many of 
which are now on hand and many more have been promised. Later 
the program of the State includes the restoration of the old grist 
mill. 




WKKm k"vii .-v.'. 



THE OLD MILL AT OLD SALEM. 
This is the only picture in existence showing the actual surroundings and the 
original mill at Old Salem. The original mill combined a grist and saw mill. The 
open building is the saw mill and shows the "up and down" saw. In the closed 
room cornmeal and flour was made. The buildings were set on pillars of rock 
in pens. The bridle path came down the face of the bluff just south of the Offut 
store which was located on the top of the hill just back of the trees. It is said 
the boys, who usually were sent to mill horseback, with the grist, would meet 
there, tie their horses, heads upward along the side of the hill at an angle of 45 
degrees and all go swimming while waiting for their cornmeal to be ground. 
The original mill burned and was replaced by another for making meal and 
flour alone and later this burned and was never replaced. 



27 

VANDALIA COURT HOUSE. 

THE first capitol building of the State of Illinois was built on its 
present site in the city of Vandalia in 1822 and now stands in 
the midst of a park some 320 feet square, filled with a large 
growth of forest trees. It is a plain two-story building, constructed of 
brick, with heavy walls built to stand the waste of time and is now a 
sturdy, old-fashioned building, encrusted with the rust of antiquity. 
It. with the plot of ground on which it stands, was donated by the 
State of Illinois to the county of Fayette in 1839. 

The building is in a good state of preservation and is as originally 
constructed with the exception that the large brick columns that sup- 
ported the north and south porches were taken down in 1899 and re- 
placed by the present iron columns and structures. 

The interior of the building is as well preserved and cared for as 
the exterior. The lower half of the building is divided by a wide hall 
sixteen feet in width running north and south : a similar hall nine feet 
wide divides the building east and west. These halls divide the lower 
floor into four large rooms. 

There is a massive stairway from the lower floor to the second 
floor, which is the original stairway constructed in the building. From 
the landing at the top of the stairway, turning west, you enter what 
was the House of Representatives, preserved intact. One historic and 
memorable fact connected with this legislative room is the large win- 
dow at the southwest corner of the room. It was out of this window 
that Abraham Lincoln jumped, while a member of the legislature, then 
in session, in order to defeat a quorum. By this act, he broke the 
quorum and prevented the continuation of the capitol of Illinois at 
this place for another twenty years. It is also a historic fact that 
within this legislative hall in 1832, that the City by the Lake (Chicago) 
was granted her first village charter. 

' Here Governors Bond, Coles, Edwards, Menard, and Reynolds, 
presided over the destinies of Illinois. Here sat our first Supreme 
Court. Here was the place of assembly of the law making power of 
such men as Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, John Thomas, 
Elias Kane, Daniel P. Cook, David Blackwell, and others. 

Since 1839 the capitol building has been used by the county of 
Fayette for court house purposes. It has now become inadequate. 
The county is forced to build a new court house elsewhere or raze this 
old historic structure. The Fifty-first General Assembly, feeling the 
people of the State of Illinois would regret the destruction of the 
building, with its archives and historic memories, appropriated $60,000 
for its purchase. 

Plans are in preparation by the Department of Public Works and 
Buildings for the making of needed repairs, and the converting of the 
lower floor into a large assembly or rest room for visitors. 



28 

DOUGLAS MONUMENT PARK. 

THIS site consists of two acres and is located in Chicago. It is 
bounded by Woodland Park, the Illinois Central Railroad, 
35th Street and by the alley west of the Illinois Central 
Railroad. 

In the fall of 1861 a group' of friends of the late Stephen A. 
Douglas met in Chicago and organized the Douglas Monument Asso- 
ciation. The governing body of this organization was a board of 
trustees. The purposes of this association were those of erecting and 
maintaining a monument in the city of Chicago in memory of Stephen 
A. Douglas. A fund was to be collected for these purposes. 

Apparently the purposes of this Association failed of accomplish- 
ment, for in an act of February 16, 1865, the General Assembly au- 
thorized the Governor to purchase in the name of the State of Illinois, 
the plot of ground in which reposed the remains of Douglas. Accord- 
ing to the act, the property was to be held by the State of Illinois as a 
burial place for Stephen A. Douglas and for no other purpose. The 
sum of $25,000 was appropriated for its purchase. In the spring of 
1865, pursuant to the act of February 16, 1865, Mrs. Adele Douglas, 
the widow, conveyed the property to the Governor of the State of 
Illinois and to his successors in office for a consideration of $25,000. 

In an act of May 21, 1877, the Legislature appointed the follow- 
ing commissioners, with authority to proceed with the erection of a 
monument: J. D. Caton, Robert T. Lincoln, B. F. Findley, Thomas 
Drummond, Lyman Trumbull, Melville W. Fuller, Potter Palmer, 
Ralph Plumb and Gustave Koener. The final report of the commis- 
sioners was made on May 28, 1881, the total expenditure being in the 
neighborhood of $75,000. 

Douglas Monument, by Leonard Volk, is similar in type to that of 
the Grant Monument in Lincoln Park. It consists of a granite base, 
surmounted by a bronze figure of the distinguished senator, while at 
the four corners of the sarcophagus-like base are bronze allegorical 
figures representing Illinois, History, Justice and Eloquence. The 
shaft is 104 feet in height. The base of the monument contains a 
crypt with a marble sacophagus which contains the remains of Illinois' 
gifted son. 

The sarcophagus bears this inscription : 



Stephen A. Douglas 

Born 

April 23, 1813. 

Died 

June 3, 1861. 

"Tell my children to obey the laws 
and uphold the Constitution." 



29 

A custodian's cottage is now being erected on this site, a new iron 
fence is being installed and other improvements are under way. A 
register will be kept for visitors following out the plan inaugurated 
directly after the completion of the Monument. From June 13 to 
October 30, 1880, 4,635 visitors from thirty-five states and territories 
and from nearly every part of the world came to pay respect to this 
renowned statesman. 




Douglas Monument. 



30 

THE LINCOLN HOMESTEAD. 

THE LINCOLN HOMESTEAD, the only residence ever 
owned by Abraham Lincoln, and the one occupied by him at 
the time of his nomination and election to the presidency, 
situated at the northeast corner Eighth and Jackson streets, Spring- 
field, is a plain, old fashioned two story, wooden house of twelve 
rooms, fronting west on Eighth street, built in 1839 by Rev. Charles 
Dresser, and purchased from him by Mr. Lincoln, May 2, 1844 for 
a consideration of $1,500. The frame work and all the floors of the 
old house are of oak ; the laths of hickory, split out by hand ; the 
doors, door frames, window frames and weather-boarding of black 
walnut. The nails, sparingly used in its construction are all hand 
made. The most noticeable features of its construction from the 
builder's point of view is the prodigal use of solid walnut and strict 
economy in the use of iron — wooden pegs being used wherever 
practicable in lieu of the customary nail. At the time of its con- 
struction it was one of the more pretentious residences of Spring- 
field, located on the outskirts of the town, but now close to the busi- 
ness center of the city, which has grown up around it. At the time 
of its purchase by Mr. Lincoln it was painted white with green 
window shutters, after the fashion of the times, and but a story 
and a half in height. During one of Mr. Lincoln's campaigning 
tours in the "Forties", Mrs. Lincoln, while having a new roof put 
on the residence, took occasion to have it converted into a full two 
story house as it appears today. No changes have been made in 
the house since Mr. Lincoln left it, except the repairs rendered 
necessary by decay of the original material. 

The lot on which the house stands is elevated three or four feet 
above the grade of the street and a brick retaining wall the entire 
length of the west end and about one-fourth the distance along the 
south side, built up vertically from the inner edge of the sidewalk, 
holds the earth in place on that part of the lot occupied by the 
house. Surmounting this wall there is a low fence of wooden 
pickets. The high board fence connecting with the brick wall and 
continuing along the south side to the rear of the lot cutting off 
the view of the back yard from the street, has been removed in re- 
cent years and the sodded lawn back of the house slopes gradually 
to the sidewalk without any intervening fence or wall. Midway of 
the west end of the lot a flight of five stone steps, let into the brick 
wall, leads up from the sidewalk to the level of the lot and three 
more such steps to the old walnut door which now opens to 20,000 or 
more visitors every year. 

After Mr. Lincoln left the house in 1861 it was occupied by 
various tenants, some of whom were none too scrupulous in caring 
for the premises. In 1883 O. H. Oldroyd, now of Washington, D. 
C, rented the house and installed in it his private collection of Lin- 
coln mementos and made of the house a museum for the display 
of his large and interesting collection to the general public. After 
the conveyance of the property to the State by Robert Todd Lin- 



31 

coin in 1887, an appropriation was made by the General Assembly 
for its repair and maintenance, Mr. Oldroyd was appointed custo- 
dian and free access given to the general public. Upon the appoint- 
ment in 1893 of another custodian Mr. Oldroyd removed his collec- 
tion of curios to Washington since which time there has been no 
effort to make it a repository of mementos of the great President. 
The old furniture of the house, sold in 1861 and afterwards taken 
to Chicago by the family that purchased it, was destroyed by the 
great fire of 1871, Aside from the old law office book case there are 
few articles in the house to connect one with Lincoln's life in Illi- 
nois. 

In this old house with so little in its appearance to distinguish 
it from thousands of others built about the same time, Mr. Lincoln 
took up his residence in the second year after his marriage and here 
remained until his departure for Washington in 1861. Here the 
three youngest children of his family were born and here the eldest 
of the three died. Here he grew up from the small figure of a 
country lawyer to the full stature of a party idol and the grand 
proportions of a national leader. Here were nurtured his early- 
born ambitions and here his greatest political aspiration was real- 
ized. Here he closed his career as a citizen of Illinois and took up 
the work to which he gave his life, that "the government of the 
people, by the people and for the people might not perish from the 
earth." 




LINCOLN HOMESTEAD. 



32 



STARVED ROCK PARK. 

STARVED ROCK PARK, the scene of the last stand of the 
Illinois Indians, the site of Fort St. Louis, established by La- 
Salle, the site of the First Mission in Illinois established by 
Father Marquette, the mecca of Romance and Indian Legendry, the 
most beautiful spot between the Allegheny and the Rocky Moun- 
tains, is a tract of some nine hundred acres of rough, wooded bluff- 
land, mostly covered with timber and lying along the south bank of 
the Illinois River, midway between Ottawa and LaSalle. It has 
three road entrances ; the western at the highway bridge crossing 
the Illinois river, one mile south of the village of Utica ; the eastern 
at the Salt Well, six miles west of Ottawa, and the southern, one 
mile directly south of the rock. The entrance for river and in- 
terurban traffic is on the river bank at the base of Starved Rock. 

November 29, 1911, the State of Illinois, purchased from Ferdi- 
nand Walther, 280 acres of land at a price of $146,000.00. Since then 
by purchase the area of the park has been increased to approxi- 
mately nine hundred acres. The value of the property with im- 
provements is $350,000.00. 

In the height of his glory, LaSalle, standing among the wooden 
ramparts of Fort St. Louis, looked down upon a concourse of wild 
human life, lodges of bark and cabins of logs, clustered in the open 
places or along the edge of the bording forest ; a mile and a half to 
the west the lodges of the Illinois, sheltering 6,000 souls and scat- 
tered along the valley the cantonments of numerous other tribes, 
making a total of 20,000 people gathered in the neighborhood. To- 
day from the same spot, preserved as a public park and pleasure 
ground for the people of the State of Illinois, the visitor, facing the 
east, gazes down upon a glorious panoramic view of the wonder- 
fully fertile and beautiful valley of the Illinois, dotted here and 
there with fields of growing grain and showing evidences of thrifty 
husbandry. To the west, instead of the laboring squaw, the war- 
riors lounging in the sun and the whoop and shouts of the native 
Indian children gamboling on the grass, may now be seen a modern 
hotel, its broad verandas filled with guests and tourists ; a bathing 
pool and dancing pavillion from which may be heard the clamor and 
laughter of the modern pleasure seekers ; and a children's play- 
ground equipped with modern play apparatus. 

The entire park is equipped with an electric light, sewage, and 
artesian water system, and a fire fighting apparatus. Low portions 
are drained so as to safeguard health. 

HISTORY. 

DURING the summer of 1673 Father Marquette and Louis Joliet, 
accompanied by five men, set out in two birch bark canoes from 
St. Ignace, under commission from Frontenac, French governor 
of Canada, to discover and explore the Mississippi. Four years earlier 
Father Marquette had met some Illinois Indians at his mission at the 



34 

west end of Lake Superior. They had gone there to trade and invited 
the priest to come to their village. The message from Frontenac, 
therefore, was received with pleasure by Marquette, for it promised 
him the opportunity to carry out his wish to go among these Indians. 

Advancing by the way of the Fox and the Wisconsin Rivers, they 
reached the Mississippi on June 17, the first Frenchman to behold that 
river. Having gone as far as the mouth of the Arkansas, they turned 
and following the advice of some Indians, that the route would bring 
them most quickly to the Lac de Illinois (Lake Michigan), began the 
ascent of the Illinois River. 

In the plain directly across and below the Rock of St. Louis, now 
Starved Rock, they came to Kaskaskia, then an Illinois Indian town of 
seventy-four cabins. Two years later Marquette returned to these 
Indians and established a mission, the first within the area of our 
State. He remained only a short time, and on account of continued 
illness, was forced to leave, his death occurring while on his way to 
St. Ignace. 

In 1682, LaSalle, accompanied by Tonti and over one hundred 
French and Indians, returned from their triumphal journey, in which 
tney had descended the Illinois to the mouth of the Mississippi, and 
had taken possession of the valley in the name of the king of France. 
During the autumn of that year they came from Mackinac to this spot 
on the Illinois, where work was begun on a palisaded fort, at the top 
of the cliff, called Fort St. Louis. Two years before LaSalle had 
visited the Illinois town, then deserted, and had ordered Tonti to ex- 
amine the rock and make it his stronghold in case of necessity. This 
constituted an ideal site for defense, for it was approachable from only 
one side and might easily be made an impregnable fortress for a few 
men against hundreds. According to the plan of LaSalle this was the 
beginning of what promised to be the first permanent colnoy in Illinois. 
He hoped to make it the great center for the western fur trade. It was 
his design also to take control of the mouth of the Mississippi by 
building another fort, and thus secure an outlet for the trade of the 
Illinois colony, as well as that of the entire valley. His imagination 
built up an empire in the valley which would lead to the dominance of 
French power in the New World, and he began to make grants of 
land to his followers according to the feudal law of the time. 

During the winter, negotiations were carried on with the Indians 
gathered in the valley and nearby canyons. There were in the vicinity, 
besides the six thousand Illinois, Shawnee, Miami and numerous other 
tribes numbering an additional ten thousand or more. The scene pre- 
sented to LaSalle from this watch tower found a worthy word painter 
in Parkman, who wrote : "The broad, flat valley of the Illinois was 
spread beneath him like a map, bounded in the distance by its low wall 
of woody hills. The river wound at his feet in devious channels among 
islands bordered with lofty trees ; then far on the left, flowed calmly 
westward through the vast meadows, till its glittering blue ribbon was 
lost in hazy distance. LaSalle looked down from his rock on a con- 
course of wild human life. Lodges of bark and rushes, or cabins of 
logs, were clustered on the open plain or along the edges of the border- 



35 




36 

ing forests. Squaws labored, warriors lounged in the sun, children 
whooped and gamboled on the grass. Beyond the river, a mile and a 
half on the left, the banks were studded once more with the lodges of 
the Illinois." 

LaSalle was able to make his own terms, for these Indians had 
already struggled unsuccessfully against the Iroquois, terrible enemy 
of the western tribes. They looked upon the French as allies who 
would be able to foil an attack by the warriors of that powerful con- 
federacy, which, at the time, seemed imminent. The Iroquois failed 
to appear and the summer passed peacefully away. But to LaSalle 
they were months of gloom, for his staunch friend and supporter, 
Count Frontenac, had been recalled. In his stead reigned LaBarre, 
as governor of the French possessions in America. His jealous dis- 
position soon led him to accuse LaSalle of attempting to build up a 
kingdom in the heart of the New World. His enmity extended so far 
that he learned with satisfaction of the advance of the Iroquois, and 
signified to their representative his desire to have LaSalle put to death. 
By his order supplies were cut off from the little company of French- 
men at Fort St. Louis; LaSalle's property in upper Canada was seized; 
and his influence with the king was assailed. Determined to regain his 
position, LaSalle set out for Quebec, meeting on the way thither a 
representative of the governor, who was sent to take possession of the 
new fort. 

LaSalle soon sailed for France, where he gained permission to 
appear in the presence of the great monarch, Louis XIV, and made 
his plea. His plan to build a fort on the Gulf of Mexico, which would 
be a menace to the Spanish possessions, and another fort sixty leagues 
above the mouth of the River Colbert, or Mississippi, which would 
constitute a stronghold against the advance of the English, met with 
instant favor. An officer was dispatched to LaBarre with the royal 
command that he should restore all of LaSalle's possessions. 

LaSalle, himself, was appointed leader of the expedition to be 
sent to the Gulf of Mexico, and finally succeeded, after overcoming 
many difficulties, in setting out with four hundred men on board four 
vessels. Failure seemed to shadow the expedition from the start, for 
scarcely had they sailed from Rochelle (July 24, 1684) when trouble 
arose between LaSalle and Captain Beaujeu, who had charge of the 
chief vessel. One ship was captured by Spaniards, and January, 1685, 
another went aground on the coast of Texas and was lost. 

LaSalle and his followers went ashore and built a fort (Fort St. 
Louis). Beaujeu soon deserted in one of the remaining vessels, and 
the other was wrecked. Thus the little colony, with all means of re- 
turn to France cut off, and surrounded by hostile Indians, was in a 
desperate condition. All attempts to find the mouth of the Mississippi 
failing, LaSalle, with seventeen half starved men, set out on horse- 
back with the hope of reaching Canada, and thus securing succor for 
the garrison of twenty left in the fort. Reaching the bank of the 
Trinity River, LaSalle was killed by one of his followers. 



3? 




38 




Ice Pillar in St. Louis Canyon Starved Bock Park. 



39 

In the meantime an attempt was made by the Iroquois on 
March, 1683, to capture Fort St. Louis from the Illinois, but after an 
unsuccessful siege of six days they withdrew. In 1684 Tonti was 
placed in full command of the fort. During the month of Septem- 
ber, three years later, a party of seven Frenchmen, LaSalle's com- 
panions from the gulf colony, saw with great relief after their toil- 
some journey, the cliff, surmounted by the fort, rising before them. 
The garrison received them with a salute of musketry. 

Ascending the circuitous path at the rear of the rock, they 
found on reaching the top that it was encircled for defense by a pal- 
isade and by a number of dwellings, a storehouse and a chapel. A 
number of Indian lodges were within this area. In the spring, they 
set out for Canada without giving any information to Tonti and 
his associates of the death of LaSalle. An account of the journey 
was given by Joutel, one of the company, who has also given a 
faithful description of the fort and surroundings when they visited 
it. 

"Fort Louis," he writes, "is in the country of the Illinois, and 
seated on a steep rock, about two hundred feet high, the river 
running at the bottom of it. It is only fortified with stakes and 
palisades and some houses advancing to the edge of the rock. It 
has a very spacious esplanade, or place of arms. The place is 
naturally strong, and might be made so by art, with little expense. 
Several of the natives live in it, in their huts. I cannot give an ac- 
count of the latitude it stands in, for want of proper instruments 
to take an observation, but nothing can be pleasanter ; and it may be 
truly affirmed that the country of the Illinois enjoys all that can 
make it accomplished, not only as to ornament, but also for its 
plentiful production of all things requisite for the support of hu- 
man life. 

"The plain, which is watered by the river, is beautified by two 
small hills, about half a league distant from the fort, and those 
hills are covered with groves of oaks, walnut trees and other sorts 
I have named elsewhere. The fields are full of grass, growing up 
very high. On the sides of the hills is found a gravelly sort of 
stone, very fit to make lime for building. There are also many clay- 
pits fit for making of earthenware, bricks and tiles and along the 
river there are coal-pits, the coal whereof has been tried and found 
very good." 

He described the temperate climate, which was suitable he 
thought, for the growing of Indian corn ; and the production of 
wild grapes and wild apple and pear trees in great quantities. He 
found the Illinois Indians naturally fierce, revengeful and untrust- 
worthy. The men were occupied in going to war and in hunting, 
while all labor was performed by the squaws. 

During September, 1688, Tonti learned from some Arkansas 
Indians of the death of his friend and leader, and determined to 
go to the rescue of the forsaken colony on the coast of Texas. It 
was his aim also to advance with a war party to the Rio Grande 
and secure that territory, since war had again been declared between 



40 




French Canyon — Starved Rock Park. 



41 




42 

France and Spain. With four other Frenchmen and three Indians, 
they left the fort in October in a pirogue. Before reaching the Red 
River, early in April, he had been deserted by all save two of his 
companions. They still pushed on for a time, but were compelled 
to retrace their steps. It was a toilsome journey during the hot 
July and August days. Because of the inundated plains, due to 
the heavy rains, they were forced to abandon the horses, which they 
had gotten from the Indians. "We crossed," said Tonti, "fifty 
leagues of flooded country. The water where it was least deep, 
reached half-way up the legs ; and in all this tract we found only 
one little island of dry land. We were obliged to sleep on the 
trunks of two great trees placed together, and to make our fire on 
the trees, to eat our dogs, and to carry our baggage across large 
tracts covered with reeds. In short, I never suffered so much in 
my life as in this journey to the Mississippi, which we reached on 
the 11th of July." In September they arrived at Fort St. Louis. 

For twelve years Tonti remained at this post carrying on a 
trade in furs. All outposts on the great lakes and all other ad- 
vanced posts were ordered abandoned by the King in 1698. Even 
with this seeming advantage, because of governmental restrictions, 
the trade at Fort St. Louis decreased. Owing to Indian raids, the 
route by the Fox and Wisconsin rivers gained precedence over that 
of the Illinois. 

A royal order of the year 1702 declared that Fort St. Louis was 
to be abandoned and that Tonti was to join D'Iberville on the 
Lower Mississippi. Three years earlier the Illinois, still fearful 
of the Iroquois, had deserted their village and located at the new 
Kaskaskia on the Mississippi. 

Fort St. Louis was reoccupied by French traders for a brief 
time, but a traveler visiting the spot in 1721 found only ruins. 

But Starved Rock was the scene of numerous conflicts between 
the tribes during the succeeding half century. In 1722, we are told, 
the Peoria, pursued by the Foxes, took refuge on this stronghold. 
In the siege which followed, the Foxes lost so many of their war- 
riors that they withdrew. None of these encounters is so full of 
dramatic interest as the one in which tradition has originated the 
name Starved Rock. Even if the evidence must be regarded as 
doubtful, the story may well be retold, for through it the name will 
survive. 

In 1769, the story goes, Pontiac, chief of the Ottawa, while 
on a visit to Cahokia, was killed by a Kaskaskia Indian. The Ot- 
tawa, aided by the Pottawatomi, in their efforts to avenge this loss, 
began a war of extermination against the Illinois. The remnant of 
this tribe finally sought refuge on the site of Fort St. Louis. Driven 
to desperation by hunger, they finally strove to cut their way 
through the ranks of their besiegers. In their enfeebled condition 
they were an easy prey for the enemy, and all save eleven perished. 
No tribe ever again bore the name Illinois. 



43 




44 
GEOLOGIC HISTORY. 

WITH the essential facts relative to the geographic features and 
geologic formations of this region in mind, it is not difficult to 
sketch the geologic history of this very attractive region. The 
Lower Magnesium Limestone was deposited in shallow marine waters. 
It points to a time when the sea, probably from the Gulf region, ad- 
vanced into the interior of the continent and rested here for a sufficient 
long period of time to account for the accumulation of shell material. 
and possibly the precipitation of some lime from those sea-waters to 
give rise to the 250 feet in thickness of this formation. The fossil 
forms of the marine animals that lived at that time may be found in 
this limestone. Following the accumulation of lime there must have 
been a retreat of the sea, and therefore an exposure of the formation 
in the sea bottom to erosion, for the St. Peters sandstone rests on an 
eroded surface of the Lower Magnesium limestone within this region. 
The presence of the sandstone suggests the re-advance of the sea, and 
a long period of deposition of sands, which must have been brought in 
to this sea by rivers from neighboring lands. Following the deposition 
of this St. Peters sandstone, there was another shifting of the shore 
line of this ancient interior sea, for the Trenton limestone rests on an 
uneven and eroded surface of St. Peters. These unconformable rela- 
tionships below and above the St. Peters sandstone indicate partial 
withdrawal of the sea from the interior of the continent. Such move- 
ments of the sea waters were presumably due to movements in the 
crustal portion of the earth much more widespread than the area under 
consideration. 

After the Trenton Limestone, and possible other formations, had 
accumulated, there was an uplift and deformation of this region. The 
rock strata, which had been deposited one upon the other with slight 
interruptions, rested in a nearly horizontal position, but the conditions 
just west of Utica and in the valley of Vermilion River indicate that 
before the Coal Measures had been deposited this portion of the State 
had been arched so that the strata dipped westward at an angle of 25 
degrees and declined from the crest of the fold eastward at an angle 
so low that it is not noticeable to the eye, but may be appreciated by a 
comparison of elevations above sea level of a given formation over 
wide areas. Thus, the St. Peters Sandstone may be said to turn from 
a nearly horizontal position to the east of Vermilion Creek downward 
and pass quickly below the surface. At Starved Rock, the base of the 
St. Peter's Sandstone is about 450 feet above the sea level. At the 
eastern margin of the State of Illinois, the base of that same formation 
has an approximate position of about 300 feet below sea level. Ac- 
companying the uplift and deformation of the formations, there was a 
disintegration of the rocks, and a wearing away of the material by 
streams. A period, undoubtedly many thousands of years in length, 
elapsed during which the region was exposed as a land area, and was 
therefore subject to the agents causing rock decay and to the work of 
streams. Following this period of weathering and erosion, there was 
a readvance of shallow waters, deposition of sands and clays, numerous 



45 

partial retreats of the water, and the accumulation of vast quantities 
of vegetable matter in marginal swamps or lagoons, new advances of 
the sea by which the vegetable matter which had but just accumulated, 
was buried under silts and sands. The repetition of such processes 
many times, through many thousands of years, results in the accumula- 
tion of the formation which is known as the Coal Measures. As far 
as the geologic History has yet been determined, the sea retreated from 
this portion of the State of Illinois at the close of the Coal Measures 
time and has never returned. Since then, there has, therefore, been a 
renewal of rock decay and stream erosion. 

This long period of erosion was interrupted by the advance of a 
great ice-sheet from the northeast. It is probable that the ice invaded 
this region more than once, but the material now found within the 
area of the proposed park appears to be that deposited by a single ice 
advance. Since the ice melted away, the valley of the present Illinois 
carried away vast floods from the glacier, and in later epochs within 
the glacial period, when the ice stood near the present outskirts of the 
city of Chicago, the great valley at the base of Starved Rock received 
the waters from the melting ice to the northeast, and as that ice re- 
treated, received the waters from Lake Chicago, the ancestor of Lake 
Michigan. Later the ancient river drained off the waters which cov- 
ered the area now occupied by Lake Erie, Lake Huron and Lake 
Superior. Thus, the valley bordering the proposed park has formerly 
contained waters similar in amount to those that flow over Niagara 
Falls today. The present river is but a shrunken remnant of the broad 
river which formerly drained, by this route, to the Mississippi Valley. 

GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 

The Lower Magnesium Limestone — This formation is exposed in 
the valley bottom and at the north bluff of the Illinois River, just 
below Utica. It does not outcrop within the area of the proposed 
park, but underlies the park area. Where it is exposed in the vicinity 
of Utica, it is being used in the manufacture of natural cement. 

St. Peter's Sandstone — This formation is the one best exposed 
within the area of the proposed park. It forms the bluffs of the Illi- 
nois valley for several miles upstream from a point between Utica and 
LaSalle. It is the formation which constitutes the bluffs, within the 
park. Starved Rock, the Devil's Nose, Lover's Leap rock, are all com- 
posed of this St. Peter's sandstone, and the walls of the canyons are 
excellent exposures of this rock. 

The Trenton Limestone — This formation is not exposed within 
the area of the proposed park, but may be seen about two miles west 
of the western end of the park along the banks of the Vermilion River. 

The Coal Measures — A series of shales, sandstones, limestones, 
and coal seams constitute what is known as the Pennsylvania form- 
ation, or, as it is sometimes called, the Coal Measures. Within the 
area of the proposed park, there is a variable thickness of coal measure 
shales, which carry with them some coal overlying the St. Peter's 
sandstone formation. These rocks are exposed on the uplands at 
various points. 



46 




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48 

The Glacial Drift — Overlying much of the upland surface there 
is a mantle of heterogeneous material composed, in large part, of clay, 
but carrying within that clay many stones and boulders. This form- 
ation differs from all those which have been thus far described in that 
it is not stratified. The material is not assorted, the large and small 
stones are irregularly distributed throughout the clay. Some of the 
material has evidently come great distances. 

The Valley Alluvium — The most recent or youngest geologic 
formation within this region is composed of the sands, gravels, and 
silts which the Illinois River has distributed over its bottom lands. 
This formation is so recent that it may be considered modern. It is, 
in fact, still in the process of accumulating, for with each overflow of 
the river some slight addition is made to the amount of alluvium on 
the bottom lands. 

BIRD LIFE. 

By Frank M. Woodruff, Curator, Lincoln Park, Chicago. 

IN the Park, the birds have received much needed protection, and 
have increased to such an extent that the Ornithologist can find 
more varieties of birds nesting on and about Starved Rock than 
any area of the same extent in northern Illinois. This statement can 
be verified by the classes of students which have visited the Rock dur- 
ing the past year or two. Four members of a class which I brought 
to Starved Rock two years ago from Saturday noon to Sunday night 
recorded fifty-eight (58) varieties of resident birds. 

The more common birds, such as the house wren, cat bird, robin, 
and wood thrush fairly swarm on the grounds in the early mornings, 
while the peculiarly rugged inaccessible walls of the canyons afford 
safe nesting places for the solitude-loving species. At the Deer Park 
canyon we find the rough-wing swallow nesting in the crevasses of the 
rock on one side of the high cliff and on the other side, where the 
rock is replaced by a deposit of soil, may be found a colony of bank 
swallows. 

Fastened to the rock known as Lover's Leap, just above the first 
prominent ledge overhanging the river, may be found the curious 
bottle-shaped nests of the cliff swallow. These nests are made of 
hundreds of small pellets of clay which are thoroughly masticated by 
the bird, the sticky saliva forming a wonderfully hard cement house. 
After the young swallows have left the nest the English sparrow takes 
possession, but the young sparrows are so much larger and heavier 
that the nest crumlbes from the rock and the birds are drowned in 
the river. 

Starved Rock is about the northern nesting range of the turkey 
vulture, and these majestic birds can be seen every day circling about 
the rock, particularly over Horseshoe and Curtis canyons. 

A very few miles from Starved Rock are the great swamps at 
Henry, Illinois, and the Kankakee River, the breeding places of 
many ducks, heron, and the bald eagle. One is apt to see a stray 



49 




50 

bird of any of these species along' the river. In the spring and fall 
many migratory birds, such as warblers, hawks, etc., pass to and 
from the nesting places in the far north. By studying the birds 
throughout the year we could swell our list to 300 or more species. 

POINTS OF INTEREST. 

TO those who must dwell and pass their lives in the artificial en- 
viroments of the city, the natural beauty of the Park appeals 
strongly. It is a veritable treasure house to the nature lover. 
No pen can picture the primitive landscape. To get the full bene- 
fit and joy of the beauty of this most interesting spot, the mysticism 
and secrecy of dells and canyons one must wander along the trails 
through cliffs and woodlands, over vegetation covered floors, 
through ravines and dells of ferns, under overhanging pines and 
cedars, into cool canyons that have been in their making since pre- 
historic times, over precipices revealing the beauties of the Illinois 
valley, through raspberry and blackberry patches, into open wood- 
lands, sweetened by phlox and violets, in fact, through everything 
that is interesting, educational and beautiful. Following the num- 
erous trails with which the Park abounds, the visitor is led from 
the fern covered maze of the jungle to the cactus and prickly pear 
of the desert ; from the open and level path of the prairie to the 
narrow cliff encircling trail of the mountain ; from the undulating 
footway of the meadow to the rock-encircled and perpendicular 
walled canyon. 

The streams in the Starved Rock region have developed steep 
rock walls. In some of the smaller valleys the height of the cliffs 
exceed the width of the valleys. These deep and gloomy chasms 
are called "canyons." Viewed from within, a typical canyon shows 
walls of crumbling sandstone, rising vertically and in some cases 
over-hanging ; within their shadows, underground waters drip 
from mossy crevices. At their base loose sand has accumulated in 
quantity, forming in many places a pedestal to the cliffs, densely 
covered with shade loving vegetation. The gray, fern-grown 
cliffs usually inclose a narrow strip of irregular floor with minia- 
ture pools during the rain}' - season. At times small waterfalls exist 
at the heads of the canyons but a greater part of the year the can- 
yons are dry except for a few pools. From above, overhanging 
trees and shrubs look down into the deep shade. 

The principal canyons are named, St. Louis, Kickapoo, Sac, 
and Fox, west of the Rock and French, Pontiac, Wild Cat, Witch's 
Kitchen, Lone Tree, Horseshoe and its branches, Tonti and La 
Salle, Owl, Hidden, Hennipen, Ottawa and Illinois, east of the Rock. 

Between Starved Rock and the main bluff to the south is a 
formation similar in size and character to Starved Rock known as 
Devil's Nose. East of Starved Rock, its base washed by the waters 
of the Illinois, Lover's Leap, a projection of the bluff, rears its 



51 




Fulpit Rock — Starved Rock Park. 



52 

massive form, the eastern end of which is known as Eagle Cliff. 
A short distance above Eagle Cliff, a smaller but similar formation 
is known as the Bee Hive and still further east a spur of the bluff, 
shaped by the action of the elements into the semblance of a pulpit 
is known as Pulpit Rock. At the eastern entrance to the Park is 
the Salt Well, a natural spring of water highly impregnated with 
minerals. 

By acquiring this site, the State of Illinois has fittingly re- 
turned its most historic landmark, situated amidst scenery of rare 
excellence, to its citizens for their free and perpetual enjoyment. 



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